Sonia O'Sullivan is due to run in her first major long distance race after putting her name forward for the World half-marathon Championship in Brussels next month providing training goes as planned. Britain's Paula Rathcliffe, one of her great rivals, has won the event on the last two occasions and would provide a stern test for O'Sullivan.
AII officials have declared her for the event, which takes place on 5th May and is over 13 miles long, but it will next week before she makes a definite decision on weather or not to run. This is due to recent stomach illness she suffered while travelling to California for the Carlsbad 5km road race at the beginning of April.
She decided to run the race but clearly wasn't fit enough as she had missed three or four days training. Her coach Alan Storey said, "Sonia would not have competed were it not for the fact she had travelled so far, but it left her weak afterwards, she was unable to eat for two days and didn't run for three.
"She has made a full recovery and is doing altitude training in the Californian mountains, but has decided to put her intentions about the half marathon on hold for the moment and will probably make a final decision next week sometime."
Filed by Johnny Proby
